Politicizing Haiti

The U.S. response to the disaster in Haiti made us proud to be Americans. As we watched the pain and suffering of the Haitian people on television, most of us were not only compelled to donate to relief efforts but also happy to see President Barack Obama's quick troop deployment and $100 million response to the earthquake emergency.

We were moved by so many acts of kindness, so many Americans looking beyond skin color and geographic boundaries, so many of us recognizing that indeed Haitians are "our hemispheric neighbors" and that we needed to extend them a helping hand.

What made it even more beautiful is that our government was truly making a bipartisan effort. Even conservative Republicans were supporting our liberal president. Our human compassion had given us an issue we all could agree on.

Well, almost all of us. There were some truly amazing exceptions.

Talk radio terrorist Rush Limbaugh, who consistently promotes fear and hatred, was not about to break out of his mold. And neither was evangelical Christian terrorist Pat Robertson, who also is known for preaching fear and hatred. Limbaugh was quick to politicize our relief efforts, and Robertson was quick to explain that the Haitian victims were being punished by God.

Even for those two individuals, who are known for going over the edge, this was a little too much. This time, Limbaugh and Robertson moved so far to the right that they went over a cliff and down a precipice. And most amazingly, there are people still willing to follow them!

Limbaugh described the disaster as a political opportunity that Obama is exploiting to promote his "compassionate" and "humanitarian" credentials and to boost his "credibility with the black community — in the both light-skinned and dark-skinned black community — in this country. It's made-to-order for him. That's why he couldn't wait to get out there." In fact, these are credentials Obama doesn't really need. More than 200,000 are feared dead, and a multitude of others have been left homeless or injured; isn't that enough for Obama to want to rush there on behalf of all of us?

Limbaugh has claimed he wants the president to fail at everything he does, and the radio terrorist decried the White House's promotion of disaster relief organizations and discouraged Americans from making private donations to those agencies. "We've already donated to Haiti," he said. "It's called the U.S. income tax."

Yet in spite of Limbaugh's disgusting attitude on Haiti, people still follow him blindly.

In fact, if Limbaugh wants to see someone who truly needs to improve his compassionate and humanitarian credentials, all he has to do is find the nearest mirror.

Robertson, known for his outrageous comments on his "700 Club" broadcasts, blamed the earthquake on something that "happened a long time ago in Haiti, and people might not want to talk about it."

He said Haitians are suffering because they made a pact with the devil, which is not necessarily what people expect to hear from a preacher following a natural disaster.

"They were under the heel of the French — you know, Napoleon III or whatever," Robertson babbled.

"And they got together and swore a pact to the devil. They said, 'We will serve you if you will get us free from the French.' True story. And so the devil said, 'OK, it's a deal.'"

He said that ever since Haitian slaves "revolted and got themselves free" from French colonists in 1804, "they have been cursed by one thing after the other." In his long list of outrageous remarks, that one has to go near the top — right up there with his ridiculous suggestion that Hurricane Katrina was God's punishment for the high number of U.S. abortions.

The man is clearly delusional, and still people follow him.

Unfortunately, we live in a society in which flame-throwing demagogues are treated like rock stars, especially by their mindless followers.

And just when we thought we had heard enough stupid, insensitive and racist remarks about Haiti, another famous promoter of fear and hatred had to make his mark. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez told his own zombie followers that the United States is using the earthquake as a pretext for occupying Haiti.

Chavez, also using the airwaves to spew his diatribe, complained that U.S. Marines "armed as if they were going to war" are "occupying Haiti undercover."

Of course, that's because — in Chavez's warped mind — we Americans are not satisfied fighting just two wars and feel the need to conquer the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.

Even Haitian President Rene Preval has said U.S. troops are needed to maintain security in the country, which is on the verge of becoming lawless. But Chavez, who sees U.S. "imperialism" even in his soup, apparently is threatened by the same U.S. acts of kindness that make us proud to be Americans.

Granted, Chavez, Limbaugh and Robertson are strange bedfellows. Indeed, Robertson once suggested that he would have no problem with it if Chavez were assassinated. But in the way they promote hate and fear, in the many stupid, insensitive and even racist comments they make, these three venom traffickers are exactly the same. Their outrageous comments, however, are not what make them scary; it's the number of people who are stupid enough to believe them and follow them down a precipice.

To find out more about Miguel Perez and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.

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